Bad Tech

Recently, PCWorld Magazine published a list of the 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time. Okay, so it was more like the 25 Worst Tech Products of the Last 25 Years, but in computing terms 25 years _is_ all time. :) I really thought this list was well thought-out and was quite amused at some of the picks listed in the "Hit List."

On top of the list of infamy is the Internet service provider America Online, or AOL for those of you unseasoned young'ins in the crowd. AOL started out well enough. They were an upstart from an old BBS determined to bring content to the masses. They did it, too. Them and Prodigy and CompuServe, as well as some smaller, lesser-known ISPs helped to revolutionize the Internet and begin it on the journey to what it is today. However, it was AOL that almost singlehandedly turned people on to the idea of online content. This was in the ancient times, or about 1993.

That's where it gets bad. After turning people on to the idea of the "interweb" or whatever people called it, AOL had met its match. People will tell stories of how they tried time and time again to connect only to receive a busy signal. Those who were lucky enough to connect were often stifled by AOL's limited content. You see, back in the elder-days of the Internet, each service provider provided a unique subset of Internet content. It was not publicly accessible like it is today. The things that one provider allowed its customers to see was not the same as content provided to another company's customers. And there was no Google, too boot.

Anyhow, AOL became synonymous with bad quality and lack of service. Not only did they provide a lack of service, but they also tried to create a new continent with all the CDs they shipped out. How many AOL CDs have you received?

More recently, AOL has billed itself as not so much a service provider, but a content provider, providing "security" features and parental controls. I mean, let's be serious. How much security do you have when AOL wants you to use the hacker's delight Internet Explorer browser? How about none. I mean, that browser's a piece of crap. But AOLers seem to know of no other way to browse the Internet. That leads me to my final point about AOL: user ignorance.

Now, I'm not saying that everyone who's ever connected to the Internet through AOL is a complete moron. What I am saying is that from a tech support standpoint, my worst clients are AOLers. They often don't know basic things about how to operate their computers. And getting them to give you their email address is like pulling teeth. You ask, "Ma'am, what's your email address so that I can send you this invoice?" They say, "It's ahansen, with an 'e.'" I get the feeling that they don't realize that there are about a gazillion email providers out there. They think that AOL is the only service around.

Anyhow, I just wanted to back up PCWorld's claim that AOL is the worst of the worst. I hope that I didn't offend anyone. That was not the intent. If any of you are AOL subscribers, I hold absolutely nothing against you personally. I just find that AOL is a bit, uh, misguided in their approach to online content. Now, don't even get me started on Microsoft... And, no, I'm not a Mac guy.

Ta Ta!